We often treat why, logic, and reason as interchangeable — as if they are three words for the same mental act. In conversation, we slide between them effortlessly: “That’s logical,” “That stands to reason,” “That’s why.” What we are really saying is simpler: this explanation satisfies me.

I began with a small, almost trivial experiment: boiling water.Five hundred millilitres. A kettle. A microwave. A stopwatch. A calculator.

There was a time when access meant food, shelter, safety.Later, it meant education. Then information.

I first saw It’s a Wonderful Life around sixty years ago, as a boy.Like many people, I found it moving without fully understanding why.

We tend to think of memory as something stored—files in a brain, data on a disk, moments preserved intact. But at the most fundamental level, memory may be something far quieter and stranger: the refusal of matter to reset completely.

The question of whether artificial intelligence will become conscious is usually asked too early and answered too dramatically. One camp insists consciousness is inevitable; another dismisses the idea as fantasy. Both positions miss something quieter—and more revealing.

I set out to do something modest: back up some files.

We are taught that humans possess five senses, each contributing equally to our understanding of the world.

There are a lot of people advocating the benefits of cold water showering, open water swimming etc. So there must be some benefits to thermal shock to awaken a body? Well I had to wash in cold water as a boy and the thermal shock on my face I deemed sufficient and still do. When I mentioned this to my son he confessed he did too. I can't remember ever saying it to him but are we the sensible ones? Is a cold water face wash enough, are they just masochists?  

We are approaching a moment that deserves pause — not panic, not outrage — but re-classification.

Unspoken forces feel natural. Invisible pressures feel inevitable. The moment a system becomes difficult to describe, it becomes difficult to resist. This is not accidental. Power has always preferred silence — or at least vagueness — to clarity.

Friction works because it exploits a fear older than any technology:the fear of standing apart.